RESUMO

Palliation of dysphagia is the cornerstone of palliative treatment in patients with incurable oesophageal cancer. Available palliative options for dysphagia are oesophageal stent placement and radiotherapy. In general, oesophageal stent placement is the preferred therapeutic option in patients with a relatively poor prognosis because of its rapid relief of dysphagia. Regardless of ongoing technical developments, recurrence of dysphagia and stent-related complications are still occurring. For patients with a relatively good prognosis, intra-luminal brachytherapy is advised because of its sustained palliation of dysphagia. Due to limited availability of intra-luminal brachytherapy in clinical practice, fractionated external beam radiation therapy is commonly applied as an alternative. Selection of the optimal palliative approach for patients remains however challenging as conclusive high-quality evidence is limited. Moreover, with the introduction of new palliative treatment options (e.g. palliative chemotherapeutic and radiotherapeutic options) and the concurrent change of patient characteristics, supporting evidence from large randomised studies is warranted.

Published in final edited form as: Dysphagia. 2009 Mar; 24(1): 26–31. Published online 2008 Aug 7.

doi: 10.1007/s00455-008-9167-y

Abstract

Earlier studies of the effect of 6 weeks of the Shaker Exercise have shown significant increase in UES opening and anterior excursion of larynx and hyoid during swallowing in patients with upper esophageal sphincter (UES) dysfunction, resulting in elimination of aspiration and resumption of oral intake. This effect is attributed to strengthening of the suprahyoid muscles, as evidenced by comparison of electromyographic changes in muscle fatigue before and after completion of the exercise regime. The effect of this exercise on thyrohyoid muscle shortening is unknown. Therefore the aim of this study was to determine the effect of the exercise on thyrohyoid muscle shortening. We studied 11 dysphagic patients with UES dysfunction. Six were randomized to traditional swallowing therapy and five to the Shaker Exercise. Videofluoroscopy was used to measure deglutitive thyrohyoid shortening before and after completion of assigned therapy regimen. Maximum thyrohyoid muscle shortening occurred at close temporal proximity to the time of maximal thyroid cartilage excursion. The percent change in thyrohyoid distance from initiation of deglutition to maximal anterior/superior hyoid excursion showed no statistically significant difference between the two groups prior to either therapy (p= 0.54). In contrast, after completion of therapy, the percent change in thyrohyoid distance in the Shaker Exercise group was significantly greater compared to the traditional therapy (p= 0.034). The Shaker Exercise augments the thyrohyoid muscle shortening in addition to strengthening the suprahyoid muscles. The combination of increased thyrohyoid shortening and suprahyoid strengthening contributes to the Shaker Exercise outcome of deglutitive UES opening augmentation.

Introduction Dysphagia causes changes in the laryngeal and stomatognathic struc- tures; however, the use of vocal exercises is poorly described.

Objective To verify whether the therapy consisting of myofunctional exercises associated with vocal exercises is more effective in rehabilitating deglutition in stroke patients.

Methods This is a pilot study made up of two distinct groups: a control group, which performed only myofunctional exercises, and an experimental group, which performed myofunctional and vocal exercises. The assessment used for oral intake was the functional oral intake scale (FOIS).

Results The FOIS levels reveal that the pre-therapy median of the experimental group was 4, and increased to 7 after therapy, while in the control group the values were 5 and 6 respectively. Thus, the experimental group had a statistically significant difference between the pre- and post-therapy assessments (p 1⁄4 0.039), which indicates that the combination of myofunctional and vocal exercises was more effective in improving the oral intake levels than the myofunctional exercises alone (p 1⁄4 0.059). On the other hand, the control group also improved, albeit at a lower rate compared with the experimental group; hence, there was no statistically significant difference between the groups post-therapy (p 1⁄4 0.126).

Conclusion This pilot study showed indications that using vocal exercises in swallow- ing rehabilitation in stroke patients was able to yield a greater increase in the oral intake levels. Nevertheless, further controlled blind clinical trials with larger samples are required to confirm such evidence, as this study points to the feasibility of conducting this type of research.